Taking Care of Business

It’s that time of year again. Baseball season? No, it’s the start of IBEW conference season.

Our branch conferences and district progress meetings provide the annual opportunity for local union leaders to get together and listen, learn and express their views on the issues of the day facing each branch of the Brotherhood and organized labor in general. This year, there is no shortage of discussion topics.

Construction has been an engine of growth for the Brotherhood in recent years. The industry had its rough spots in many parts of North America this past winter. With the coming of spring, we are looking for work to pick up. But there are serious challenges, both immediate and long term, confronting our members.

At the joint IBEW/NECA Voice-Data-Video (VDV) Conference in March, I delivered a blunt message to the contractors and local union officials assembled: We need to do a much better job of organizing and competing for this work. Traditional construction has been and will be a core part of our work, but we cannot let the rapidly growing market for VDV slip through our fingers. Even traditional wiring systems are being replaced by computer-driven systems for such things as signal alarms, sound and public address, even lighting. We need to train our current members, and organize new ones, who have the technical skills to meet the demand for this work. We need a new work force within the Inside branch of the Brotherhood to keep pace with the jobs of the future.

If we needed further proof that the competition for these jobs would be fierce, we got it earlier this year when the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) informed us that it was close to issuing a new standard for a training program for electrical systems technicians (EST). This program is being pushed by the nonunion associations seeking to dominate the VDV market.

The situation is serious enough that I sent a letter to every construction local urging them to protest this standard in no uncertain terms by contacting the DOL. As written, the standard not only addresses VDV work, but infringes on our traditional categories as well. The department traditionally has avoided issuing standards that duplicate existing training programs, but they’re trying to do so now. We see this as a political payoff to the nonunion forces, and we must fight it. The future of every apprentice and journeyman in the industry is at stake.

Our utility members have had a lot to talk about and fight against for years. The shameful saga of Enron following on the near collapse of the electrical power system in California last year constitutes proof positive that we were right—radical deregulation of the electric utility system is a recipe for disaster.

One might think that Enron executives and their cronies would have lost credibility with the public and Congress by now. Unfortunately, shame is not a word in the vocabulary of these characters. They will be back, wielding a new money stick to try to beat us with.

So we have to get to work now, while they are regrouping. We need to get involved in the process wherever deregulation is on the political menu. We need to tell, emphasize, stress and remind the U.S. Congress, as it considers national energy legislation, that change has worked best when workers and consumers were involved in the process. High level meetings by elected officials with top energy conglomerate executives (sound like anyone we know?) will produce a system that works best for—surprise—the self-styled czars of energy.

If we want a system that works for the average person, we’ve got to fight for it, raise our voices, and push hard for our issues. Worker training, the maintenance of a sufficient skilled work force, and protections for residential and commercial consumers alike against profiteering and sharp price increases are essential ingredients to any change in the system. In some cases, that will mean no change at all, as several states have come to realize.

The beat goes on, brothers and sisters. Our work is, as always cut out for us. There is no time for spring fever.

Edwin D. Hill
International President